Method for drying leather



0d 27, 1942 G. M. ARGAVBRITE 2,299,725

METHOD FOR DRYING' LEATHER Drignal Filed Sept. 3, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet l www 0d. 27. 1942. M. ARGABRITE 12,299,725

IME'IIDFR DRYING' LEATHER original Filed sept. 5, 195e 3 sheets-sheet 2 OCL 27.1942-l G. M.. ARGABRITE METHOD FORV DRYING LEATHER l original Filed sept. s, ls s sheets-sheet s ,5f/yar 'Pofooiodlooczaiuz 2,299,725

2,299,725 Mmnon Fon name Lnsrnpn i George M. Argabrite; deceased, late of Chicago, f f e Ill., by Margaret M. Walker, formerly Margaret `M. Argabrite, executrix, Cheyenne,Wyo., and o l l Frederick Sturgis Stout and John Edgar Leach,

Camden, N. J.; said Margaret M. Walker, assignor to `Wesley H. Argain'ite,l Des Plaines, lll.

`Originai-application ySeptember 3, k1938, Serial No.

` 228,422, now Patent No. 2,197,776, dated April 23, 1940. Divided and this application April 14, 1939,9Serial No. 267,926 'Y 4 claims. (ci. 34-23) o The invention Yrelates tofy the processing of' s so that the frame' as a whole moves and turns leather and includes among its objects andfad' with the links 24 between the pivots 26 on which vantages an improvementin the removal of moisthe frame is mounted. It will be apparent that, ture from wet leather, `of a type particularly adas clearly indicated in Figures 1 and 2, each UNITED ISTATES PATENT 'OFFICE i employed, or both. i in Figure 2 back into' a new horizontal positionin Inthe accompanying drawings: i l 1o the opposite reach of the conveyor, but with the' Figure l is aside `elevation of a drier accordother side of the frame uppermost. i ing tothe inventiomi v At each en'dof the apparatus a length ofthe ye 2 is` an enlarged central section in a vert conveyor is exposed to permit workmen to remove 'j tical `plane ot the' left hand portion of the drier dried kips or hides from the frames and replace Tof Figure 1: l f o l o Figure 31s a.` plan view or a portion of one of ure 1 is illustrated a housing section 40 at the the horizontal reaches of the conveyor; i right hand end, which section is o1' reduced size Figure 4-is an 1enlarged side elevation of a and'establishes communication between the hous- "sprocketwheel at one' end `oi! the conveyor; ings I0 and I4 `around the lower reach of the Figure 5is a partial section as online 5--5 of 2o conveyor. `But the corresponding portion 42 kof Figure 1;"y I j L l f i the upper lreachof the conveyor `below the lights Figur-Ke 611s Vvarwirixlg diagram; and M which are provided to illuminate the Working Figure 711g oldetoll section on liner-1 of Fig space, is exposed.'r Similarly, at the left hand end ure 3 v l Y ,there is provided a reduced housing section '46 Housing and conveyor 25 surrounding the upper reach of the conveyor and y f establishing communication between the cham- In the embodiment of apparatus according t0 pero` In and l2. The lights 4a are positioned betheinvention.selectedior illustration, the drier i vow the housing Section 4s-to illuminate the oxo comprisesa-main chamber ill and end chambers posed conveyor portion at 50, I2 and Il The conveyor comprises a pair of 3o lng o `duplicate spaced endless chains I6 and I8 driven bysprocket wheels 2|iand 22 from any suitable To dr ,Y y the leather as itA passes through the Source of power (not Showrp' Each sproket housingstwo air heating and conditioning units .cham is made up of overlappmg .lmks u umted 52 and 54 are provided from which warm air may by pivots 28 on which pivots are supporting roil- 35 be delivered Above and below the upper reach ers n between the 'links' Beween tzhesprket of the conveyor throughout the extent of the Wheels n and 22 are provided tracks 9 on which housings I0 and 48, lie horizontal air ducts 58. the rollers 28 ride, so that the reaches of the con- The surfaces of these an. ducts adjacent the com Veyor are' substartmny honzontal mstffad-f as" veyor are perforated so that warm air for drying m8 Cltgugesf; lgallg 1s 251; 40 iiows out of vthem and into contact with the n s leather on the frames. Simila air u ts 58 ar frame, asindicated .in Figure 3, has va rigid pe-V r d' c e o provided above and below the lower reach of the ripheml structure u, of Structural iron and apa conveyor throughout the housings I0 and 40. The ofA foraminated plates 34 in Closely spaced Parconditioning unit s4 delivers conditioned oir allel planes. one above and one below the Derivh- 45 through e horizontoiduoc su to a riser ez which eral Structure 32H illustrated. the frames are. communicates with all four oi' the horizontal or quite iarge and accordinglythe plates 3.4 duets sa` ondss, and the' conditioning una sz deare each mdlll in tWO SBCOIISWith the `edges livers conditioned air to the horizontal duct 64 of the sections' crimped over each other as' indiwhich in turn communicates with the riser B6, cated in Figure 3 `ai? 35 to unite the SCti`0nS 50 and the riser 66 also communicates with all four Each side of each irameoarries-two spaced pivots of the horizontal ducts 5|; and sa, This lo the I8 equally spaced fro `the transverse-center line main air supply for drying purposes. ofthe irameand separated by a distance equal to The air thus discharged against the leather the distance between -twoadjacent pivots 26- ilnds its way laterally to either side and rises These pivots It are entered inside the pivots 2B 55 along the sides or the chamber i0 andis wlthdrawn through the duct 68. Suitable means for maintaining the circulation is illustrated in the form of the exhaust fan 10. a

Where the conditions of drying are such that the spent air is too heavily charged with moisture to be worth recirculating, all the air may be discharged at the outlet 68. However, under conditions where this air is still of some use, part or all of it may be recirculated, as by means of the return duct 12 leading from the discharge return duct 14 leading from the discharge duct 68 tothe air conditioning unit 52.l In these reamount of recirculation or to prevent any recirculation at all.

To avoid the discharge of heated air at the ends of the exposed conveyor portions 42 and 50, there is provided a small air box 18 indicatedin Figure l2 adjacent th right`hand end of the conveyor portion v50 and just inside the. housing |0. The air discharged from the box 18. is directed laterally to the right so that a gentle suction is developed around the opening in the wall of the chamber I Where the conveyor enters the chamber. This establishes a gentle suction around the opening which need not necessarily be suiiicient to draw in any appreciable amount of out.- side air, but prevents the escape ofv any of the represent a loss of drying power but inconvenience the Workmenas well. The bbx 18 may secure its air supply from the riser 66. A similar box 80 at the left hand end of the exposedportion 50 may secure its air through an extension 82 of the duct 64 and a riser 84.`

Similarly, as clearly indicated in Figure 1, a

receives its air supply from the riser 62, and the extension 88 and riser 80 deliver air to the box 82 at the right hand end of the exposed portion 42.

Under many load conditions the movement of the air -inside the large chamber |0, produced solely by the action of the inlet and outlet ducts, tends to be somewhat irregular and to exert a variable drying action on different'` portions of the conveyor. Within the horizontal clearance space indicated at 94 in Figures 1, 2, and 5, there is -provided a series of small fans 96. As clearly indicated in Figure alternately near opposite side walls of the housing |0 and they set up a series of horizontal vor? tices 88 by means of which the rising air is thorand moisture content.

Operation Info e successful installation the speed of the convetgr is between two and three feet per minute and it takeis/ substantially half an hour for a particularframe to complete the entire circuit.

Y Each irame enters the exposed portion 42 with the hide on top completelyl dry and ready for removal and the hide on the bottom substantially half dry. At this point workmen standing beside the ceinveyor unfasten the hide from its supporting late 34 and remove it and replace it with a ew wet hide t6 be dried, in which condition'the frame enters(y the main drier section I0. About fifteen minutes later this same frame the exposed section 50 with the wet hide attached at the other `end of the conveyor now on the underside of the frame and half dry, and the turn ducts dampers 16 are provided to ycontrol the warm air in the chamber, `which would not only,

box 86 at the left end of the exposed portion 42 these fans are staggered' oughly mixed and kept uniform in temperature duct 68 to the air conditioning unit 54, and the i half dry hide that was on `the underside of the frame at the other end of the conveyor on top and completely dried. Accordingly, the task of removing the dried hide on top and replacing it with a wet one as the frame passes through the exposed portion 50 is identical with the task performed by the workmen at 42. In the successful installation referred to, it is customary to have two workmen working at 42 and two others at 50, and these four men have substantially nothing to do but take off finished hides and put on wet ones, by means of the edge toggles common 1 sizes of the pieces of leather and the frame.

moving Y the speed is adjusted to .keep

will have rounded/the sprocket 20 and will enter I 4the past to mount The speed stated is men substantially continuously employed in reand replacing the hides. However, in case of any delay for any reason it is'preferable to maintain full load on the drier and uniformity in the load throughout the drier by having a new wet hide on every entering frame, rather than allowing an occasional frame to go through empty. In Figure 6 is indicated the arrangement of wiring necessary to enable the workmen at 42 or the workmen at -50 to stop the movement of the i conveyor momentarily in case theyi are not quite able to keep up with the work. The power lines |00 and |02 are supplied with electrical energy from a suitable sourceand the line |00 extends to the winding |04 of a solenoid |06 arranged to stop the motor which drives the sprocket wheels 20 and 22. From ing |04 a conductor |08 extends to the control switch ||0 by means of which the workmen at 42 can stop the motor. And another conductor H2 extends to the control switch ||4 by means of which the workmen at 50 can stop the motor. Signal light ||6visible to the workmen at 50 is shunted across the winding |04 by means of a conductor H8. and signal light `|20 is similarly shunted across the same winding |04 by means of the conductor |22. Thus when the workmen at either position find it necessary to interrupt the movement of the conveyor momentarily to catch up, both signal lights ||6 and |20 will-tbe lit so that the workmen at the other end'of the conveyor will know that the interruption is caused by their team mates and not by any failure of power or shut down of the machine.v n It will Ihe obvious that the speed of the conveyor depends on the type of leather that the workmen are putting on, and on`the number of pieces they put on each support. In operation,

y the workmen comfortably busy changing leather, and then the hot air supply is adjusted toI secure the desired dryness under those conditions of speed and load.

Referring now to Figure 1, the individual apertures in the plates 34 are indicated at |24, and

it will be noted that around each aperture there remains a burr |26. It ha's been customary in hides for drying on single sheets of metal. In such cases it is necessary to smooth thev edges of such yholes as |24 so that no sharp projections are left'anywhere to scratch the leather or the workmens fingers or both. The machining operations necessary to smooth the edges of vsuch a large number of holes, represent a cost in excess of the cost of the metal for the plate, but a simple punching operation such as to keep the work- V the other terminal of the wind-4 drying section.

. above the other,-

`with one side uppermost and l r .2,29 'will form holes such as illustrated in Figure '7.

with one side oi' Vthe plate suitable i'or immediate use. By using two spaced plates as shown, we not only obtain a substantial air spacebetween the leather on opposite sides, which assists in making the drying action unismooth4 and entirely leather to be dried;

form on thediil'erent parts oi' each piece oi leathl, er, .but we eliminate the heavy expense oi' smoothing and polishing the edges of the holes. And because of the large size of the supports and the additional structural strength resulting from spacing the plates apart, the total weight of rnet-I al in the finished support is not seriously increased. 'The ilnal result is a support that has three advantages over the single plate: rst, it is cheaper to produce; second, it is much more rigid but still not objectionably heavy; and third, it has the inside air space that equalizes the This application is a division oi' co-pending application Serial Number 228,422, filed Septem- 'ber 3, 1938,' now Patent Number 2,197,776, 0f

April 23. 1940.

Without further elaboration the foregoing will so fully explain'the invention that others may, by applying knowledge current at the time oi' application, readily adapt the same for use under various conditions of serv e.

We claim:

` 1. The method oi drying leather whichy com` prises: aillxing a wet piece of leather to one side of a support;Av subjecting the support andy the .leather` on it' to drying action until the leather is approximately half dried: aillxing a second wet piece of leather to the opposite side of said support and drying the support andthe leather on it until said iirst piece is completely dried and said second piece is approximately half dried; removing the completely dried piece oi leather and replacing it with a wet piece and continuing the process through an indefinite number oi' cycles.

2. The method ot dryingv leather which com prises, in combination: moving a series of perforate supports continuously in a closed path including two long horizontal reaches located one and two curved reaches-interconnecting adjacent ends of said horizontal reaches; holding each support in the plane oi4 each horizontal reach or substantially tangent to the adjacent portion of each curved reach throughout its movement, whereby 'each support passes through one of said horizontal reaches through the other reach with the other side uppermost; at a predetermined position of the movement of cach support through each of said removing from the upper surface of said support wet and subjecting said supports and the leather thereon to drying action, except` dried leather carried thereby, and aiilxing `at said'predetermined positions for removal 0I dry leather and aiiixing of wet leather.

3. 'I'he method of drying leather which comprises, in combination: moving a series of`4 perforate supports continuously in a closed path including two long horizontal reaches located one abov\the' other, and two other reaches interconnecting adjacent ends vof said horizontal reaches; holding each support in the plane of its path or substantially tangent to the adjacent curved portion of its most and through the other reach with the other .i side uppermost; at a kpredetermined position of y .permost; at Va predetermined prises, in

path, throughout its movement, whereby each support passes through one 'of said horizontal reaches with one side upperthe movement of each support through each of said horizontal reaches, removing from the upper surface of said support dried leather carried thereby, and aillxing wet leather to be dried; and

subjecting said supports and the leather thereon to drying action, except at said predetermined positions i'or removal of dry leather and aillxing of wet leather.

4. The method of drying leather'which comcombination:r` moving a series of supports continuously in a closed path including two long horizontal reaches located one above the other, and two other reaches inter-connecting adjacent ends of said horizontal reaches; hold'- ing each support in the plane of its path or substantially tangent to the adjacent curved portion of its path throughout its movement, whereby each support passes through one of said horizontal reaches with one side uppermost and through the other reach with the other side upposition of the movement of each support through each of said Ahorizontal reaches, removing surface of said support dried leather carried thereby, and ailixing wet leatherto be dried; and

horizontal reaches,

ter piece.

subjecting said supports and the leather thereon to drying action;` said predetermined positions being approximately equally spaced along said closed path, whereby each piece oi' leather undergoes the ilrst haii' of the drying process in close proximity to a dryer piece, and the last haii' of the drying process lncloseproximity to a wetg MARGARET M. WALKER', Formerly Margaret M. Argabrlte, Widow and Erecutr of the Estate of George M. Argabrite,

Deceased. 4

FREDERICK STURGIS STOUT. JOHN'EDGAR LEACH.

from the upper 

